Malnutrition or beauty conscious in Modi's Gujarat?

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's tall claims of development in the state falls flat when citizen journalist Sharvari Raval shares with us the photograph of a malnourished and TB affected child, Bharati.

"Gujarat is by and large a vegetarian state. And secondly, Gujarat is also a middle-class state. The middle-class is more beauty-conscious than health-conscious – that is a challenge. If a mother tells her daughter to have milk, they'll have a fight. She'll tell her mother, 'I won't drink milk. I'll get fat'," Modi had recently told The Wall Street Journal in an interview.

Malnourished in Gujarat. Image courtesy ibnlive

Raval questioned the controversial statement by the chief minister and wondered how a malnourished child can even think about beauty.

Is the state government ignoring grim facts while trying to showcase Gujarat as a welfare and developed state in the run up to the forthcoming polls on 13 and 17 December.